Device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects



Jan. 28, 1964 Filed Feb. 15, 1962 w. HOPPELER 3,119,160 DEVICE FOR BINDING AND FOR FACILITATING TRANSPORTATION OF OBJECTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /N vn/ro/ a WAL 715E HOFFL 52 Jan. 28, 1964 w. HOPPELER 0 DEVICE FOR BINDING AND FOR FACILITATING TRANSPORTATION 0F OBJECTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15, 1962 /NVE/V7'0E-' WAL TEE HOP/ EL 5/? ATTORNEY United States Patent DEVKQE The present invention relates to a device for binding or tying and for facilitating transportation and/ or storage of objects, especially of bundles consisting of elongated objects.

An important object of the invention is to provide a very simple, inexpensive and practical binding device which, among many other uses, may be utilized for bundling of wood, rolled sheets of pulp, bars, rods, sticks and similar objects.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the just outlined characteristics which may be readily separated from the object or objects to which it is applied without the utilization of special tools and with exertion of negligible physical effort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for binding of bundled logs, timbers and other elongated objects which, when not in actual use, may be collapsed into a small package so that it may be transported and/ or stored in a small area.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a reusable device of the above outlined characteristics which renders it possible to carry, to store and to transport metered quantities of hard-to-handle objects with substantial savings in time, manpower and energy.

A concomitant object of the instant invention is to provide a binding and transportation facilitating device of the above described type which may be manufactured in any desired size so as to serve as a means for binding and transporting larger or smaller bundles, which may be readily adapted for binding and transporting of different bundles, which may handled by persons having little technical skill, and which may be manufactured of readily available materials.

With the above objects in view, the invention resides in the provision of a device for binding or tying and for facilitating transportation and/or storage of objects, particularly of bundles consisting of elongated objects, which comprises a preferably rigid spacer member, a pair of flexible object encircling strands each having a first end portion preferably permanently secured to or anchored in the spacer member so that these first end portions remain spaced from each other, and a second end portion which is preferably detachably connectaole with the spacer member in such a way that the two second end portions also remain spaced from each other and that the strands form spaced loops which surround the object or objects.

Certain other features of the invention reside in the provision of a one-piece flexible element which embodies the aforementioned strands, in the provision of special means for securing the first end portions of the strands to the spacer member, in special construction of the spacer member, in the provision of means on the spacer member which enables an operator to turn the spacer member between two spaced angular positions in one of which the second end portions of the strands may remain connected to the spacer member and in the other of which the second end portions of the strands may be readily or automatically separated from the spacer member, and in special construction of the means which detachably retain the second end portions of the strands on the spacer member.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the 3,1 lihldh Patented Jan. 28, 1954 appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following detailed description of certain specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bundle of logs and of a binding device or carrier which is utilized for tying the bundle and which embodies one form of my invention;

d F IG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the binding evice;

PEG. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the binding device, further showing one form of means which may be utilized for opening the. device;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a modified binding device;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the modified binding device shown applied to a bundle of timbers; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a different binding de vice.

Referring now in greater detail to the illustrated embodirnents, and first to FIG. 1, there is shown a bundle 3 which includes a stack of cross-cut logs of equal or nearly equal length. These logs are assumed to consist of wood and include barked round timbers 1 and split timbers 2, which can preferably be bundled in a so called bundlingframe as described f.i. in the Swiss Patent No. 358,339 The bundle 3 is tied together by means of a novel binding and transportation facilitating device or carrier which is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2 and which comprises two main components, namely, a one-piece preferably rigid elongated spacer member 9 and an elongated flexible element 4. The flexible element comprises two spaced object encircling strands or loops 5, 6 and a connecting member 13 which extends intermediate the strands. The end portions 7, 8 of the strands 5, 6 are permanently secured to the spacer member 9, and the connections between the member 9 and the end portions 7, 8 may assume a number of forms one of which is shown in FIG. 2. The end portion 7 of the strand 5 extends through an aperture 14 which is provided in the proximity of one end of the member 9, the latter assuming the form of a hollow metallic tube and accommodating in its interior an anchoring or securing sleeve 12 which is permanently connected to the terminal or tip of the end portion 7 and whose diameter is greater than the diameter of the aperture 14 so that it cannot be withdrawn through this aperture. The end portion 8 of the strand 6 extends through a second aperture 15 provided at the other longitudinal end of the member 9 and its terminal carries a second anchoring or securing sleeve 12a. The axial length of the sleeves 12, 12a preferably equals or approximates the internal diameter of the tubular member 9 to make sure that the end portions 7, 8 are not knicked or bent at the pginltswhere they pass through the respective apertures It will be readily understood that the sleeves 12, 12a may be replaced by other types of anchoring or securing means, egg. by knots formed at the ends of the strands 5, 6; however, it has been found that knots are more likely to become destroyed, particularly if the end portions '7, 8 are bent at the points Where they pass through the respective apertures.

The spacer member d is provided with means for detachably retaining the connecting member 13 so as to maintain the looped strands 5, 6 in the object encircling and binding positions of FIG. 1. The retaining means assume the form of two spaced recesses or notches 10, 19a which extend inwardly from the opposite longitudinal ends of the member 9 and which are preferably disposed in a common plane closely adjacent to the common plane of the apertures 14, '15. The angular distance between the common plane of the apertures 14, 1S and the common plane of the notches '10, 10a should be less than 90 degrees to make sure that spaced portions of the connecting member 13 which are received in these notches will remain therein when the strands 5, 6 are subjected to tension, see FIG. 3.

The spacer member 9 is further provided with a least one but preferably two or more angularly offset through bores or openings 11 whose purpose is to facilitate removal of the connecting member 13 from the notches 10, 10a when an operator desires to untie the bundle 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the member 13 may be released with the help of an elongated stick or a similar turning tool T whose tip is inserted into a selected bore 11 preparatory to turning of the member 9 about the latters longitudinal axis and in a direction to turn the member 9 in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 3, by pivoting the tool in the direction indicated by the arrow. If the strands 5, 6 are under substantial tension, the member 13 will spring from the notches 10, 19a. On the other hand, if the strands are not under tension or are subjected to negligible tensional stresses, the operator may conveniently remove the member 13 from the notches as soon as the spacer member 9 is turned through an angle of say 90 degrees or more.

The depth of the notches 10, lGa may be such that they retain the member 13 at two spaced points whose mutual distance approximates the distance between the apertures 14, 15. This insures that the strands 5, 6 remain in two substantially parallel planes when they are looped about and encircle the bundle 3.

The bundle is usually assembled in a conventional round buncher or bundling machine onto which the strands 5, 6 are placed in the position of FIG. 2. The timbers 1 and 2 are thereupon placed onto the strands and, in the next step, the operator grasps the connecting member 13 and introduces it into the retaining notches 10, 10a so that the strands are looped about and encircle the bundle. Once the newly formed bundle is removed from the bundling machine, the individual timbers are shifted with respect to each other in directions perpendicular to their longitudinal extensions because they need not retain the positions which they occupied while in the machine. Consequently, the strands 5, 6 are subjected to tension and the member 13 is automatically retained in the notches. The spacing between the strands is sufiicient to make sure that the bundle 3 retains its general (e.g. circular or polygonal) form even though the individual timbers may be shifted with respect to each other when the bundle is lifted and/ or when the bundle is thereupon placed onto a conveyance for transportation to the locale of actual use. Movements of timbers in the direction of their longitudinal extension are less likely, particularly when the bundle is lifted. If desired, the spacer member 9 may be provided with an eye or the like for reception of a crane hook, not shown. It is also possible to utilize one of the bores 11 as a means for facilitating connection of the member 9 to a lifting apparatus.

The binding device of my invention is especially suited for binding and for facilitating transportation of lumber utilized in paper making and certain other industries, and its advantages will be more readily understood if one considers that the timbers are loaded and unloaded between 48 times while being moved from the point where the trees are felled to the processing machine or machines. By utilizing the binding device of my invention, workmen can bundle the timbers right at the locale of cutting subsequent to soiting according to type of wood, quality, length, cross-sectional configuration, etc., depending on the instructions obtained from the buyer or from the processing plant. In addition, each loading or unloading operation can be carried out with little waste in time and with substantiall savings in personnel and energy regardless of whether the bundles are transferred by hand or by suitable machinery. Still further, the bundles can be stacked into heaps of considerable height without the help of lateral braces, props or the like. For example, it has been found that bundled timbers or logs with a length of 1 m. or thereabouts may be stacked into heaps having a height of between 4-5 m. without any danger that the heaps would collapse. Also, when the bundles are loaded onto trucks or into railway cars, the available space may be filled more economically and with substantial savings in time and personnel.

A binding device which, in addition to tying waste products of saw mills, is capable of binding bundles of knobby wood, split wood, firewood and/or wood and pulp used in paper mills must meet the following requirements:

(1) It should be adapted to tie a bundle with little loss in time and with exertion of small physical effort, i.e. the end portions of the strands or the connecting member 13 should be connectable to the spacer member without necessitating a tensioning of the strands.

(2) The connecting member or the ends of the strands must be readily separable from the spacer member without requiring substantial forces for such operation.

(3) The device should be readily separable from a bundle or from a single object even if the strands are sub jected to tension, i.e. it should not be necessary to compress the bundle in order to permit separation of members 9, 13 from each other.

(4) The device must be constructed in such a way that, in their object encircling positions, the two strands remain spaced from each other. Only such construction and mounting of the binding device insures that wet or smooth objects cannot or are less likely to slide in the longitudinal direction thereof when the bundle is titlted in handling. Also, a bundle surrounded by two spaced loops can be dragged along the ground without opening up as long as the strands themselves are not destroyed.

(5) The bundle should not be tied too tightly so that it may be deformed to a given extent when it is stacked with similar bundles because such deformability of the bundles makes it possible to economize with space since the deformed bundles will fill up the gaps whereas a pile of tightly tied bundles of say cylindrical or nearly cylindrical shape will exhibit large gaps between the adjacent bundles.

(6) The volumes of the consecutively formed bundles should be similar or identical so that the binding device may serve as a coarse metering means for tying wood or like objects into bundles of equal or nearly equal volumetric contents. For example, the flexible element of the binding device may be of such length that its strands may encircle a full stere of lumber.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a modified bind ing device or carrier which comprises a slightly different elongated spacer member 16 and a flexible element 4 which latter comprises two strands 5, 6 having end por tions 7, S secured to the tubular element 9' of the spacer member 16 in the same manner as described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 3. However, instead of notches 10, 10a the member 16 comprises a pair of retaining means in the form of arcuate hooks 21, 22. Each of these hooks has one of its ends secured, as by welding, to the respective end portion of the tubular element 9 and thereupon extends about this tubular element so that its other end defines with the latter a passage or gap 23, 24, respectively, through which spaced portions of the flexible connecting member 13 may extend when the device is tied about a bundle of logs 2 or about a single object, such as a tree trunk, a box or the like. The tubular element 9' is formed with at least one but preferably two or more bores 11 which may receive the end portion of a turning tool T utilized for permitting withdrawal of the connecting member 13 from the passages 23, 24. It will be noted that the apertures 14, 15 provided in the tubular element 9 are located in close proximity of the passages 23, 24 so as to make sure that the member 13 cannot fall out of hooks 21, 22 when the strands 5, 6 are under tension but that, on the contrary, tensioning of the strands insures that the member 13 is properly retained in the hooks. The angular distance between the connected and free ends of the hook 21 or 22 may be about 90 degrees.

If desired, the retaining means may be provided on the connecting member 13, rather than on the spacer member. This is illustrated in FIG. 6 which shows that the member 13 carries two spaced annuli 21a, 22a which may be frictionally retained on the ends of the tubular element 9 shown in FIG. 5. It is further possible to modify the device of FIG. 6 in a sense to omit the connecting member 13 and to provide the .retaining means 21a, 22a at the free left-hand ends of the strands 5, 6, as viewed in FIG. 6, so that the modified device merely comprises an elongated spacer member and two individual strands each of which has at least one of its ends connected with the spacer member and whose other end may be detachably or permanently connected with the spacer member. When both ends of each strand are fixed to the spacer member, the strands form two spaced object-receiving loops which may accommodate one or more objects, depending on the diameters of the loops and on transverse dimensions of the objects.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects, comprising an elongated spacer member having a longitudinal axis and being turnable as a unit about said axis between a first and a spaced second angular position, said elongated spacer member being formed with a plurality of spaced recess means; an elongated flexible element having a pair of substantially parallel, object encircling strands and a connecting member extending between said strands, each of said strands having a free end portion; and securing means provided on the end portions of said strands for securing the same to said spacer member so that the end portions of the strands are spaced from each other, said connecting member being receivable in said recess means to maintain said strands in spaced-apart object-encircling position when said elongated spacer member is in said first angular position but being detachable therefrom when said elongated spacer member is turned to said second angular position.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said spacer member is a rigid tube having a first and a second end, said recess means extending inwardly from said ends and located in close proximity of the respective securing means.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said recess means are disposed in a common plane and wherein said spacer member has a pair of spaced openings through which the end portions of said strands extend into said spacer member, said securing means located in the interior of said spacer member and the angular distance between said openings and said first mentioned plane being less than 90 degrees.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3, wherein said securing means comprise sleeve means provided on the end portions of said strands and received in the interior of said spacer member for anchoring the end portions of said strands in said spacer member.

5. A device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects, comprising an elongated spacer member having a longitudinal axis and tool-accommodating substantially radially extending aperture means, said spacer member being turnable as a unit about said axis between a first and a spaced second angular position; an elongated flexible element having a pair of object encircling strands and a connecting member extending between said strands, each of said strands having a free end portion; means provided on the end portions of said strands for securing the same to said spacer member so that the strands are spaced from each other; and means provided on said spacer member for detachably receiving said connecting member in the first angular position of said spacer member, said connecting member withdrawable from said last mentioned means uipon turning of said spacer member to said second angular position by a tool inserted into said aperture means.

6. A device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects, comprising an elongated spacer memher having a longitudinal axis and being turntable as a unit about said axis between a first and a spaced second angular position, said elongated spacer member being formed with a first and a second end portion; an elongated fiex-ible element having a pair of object encircling strands and a connecting member extending bet-ween said strands, each of said strands having an end portion; means provided on the end portions of said strands for securing the same to the end portions of said spacer member so that the end portions of the strands are spaced from each other; and retaining means provided on said spacer member for detachably receiving spaced portions of said connecting member, said retaining means comprising a pair of arcua-te hook-shaped members each eccentrically secured to and disposed about one end portion of said spacer member so that each hook-shaped member defines with the respective end portion of said spacer member a passage through which the connecting member may be led into the respective hook-shaped member in said first angular position of said spacer member, and through which said connecting member may be Withdrawn in said second angular position of said spacer member.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6, wherein said connecting member is -a hollow tube and the means for securing the end portions of said strands to said spacer member are sleeves fixed to said last mentioned end portions and received in the interior of said tube.

8. A device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects, comprising, in combination, an elongated spacer member having a longitudinal axis and being turntable about said axis as a unit between a first and a spaced second angular position; an elongated flexible element including a pair of spaced object encircling strands and a connecting portion intermediate said strands, each of said strands having an end portion remote from said connecting portion; connecting means for securing said end portions of said strands to spaced portions of said spacer member; and retaining means for detachably securing said connecting portion of said elongated flexible element to said elongated spacer member in said first angular position thereof in a manner such that said object encircling strands remain spaced from each other, said connecting portion of said elongated flexible element being detachable from said elongated spacer member upon turning of the latter to its second angular position.

9. A device for binding and for facilitating transportation of objects, comprising, in combination, an elongated spacer member having a longitudinal axis and being turnable about said axis as a unit between a first and a spaced second angular position; engageable means on said elongated spacer member for facilitating the turning of the latter between said angular position; an elongated flexible element including a pair of spaced object encircling strands and a connecting portion intermediate said strands, each of said strands having an end portion remote from said connecting portion; connecting means for securing said end portions of said strands to spaced portions of said spacer member; and retaining means for detachably securing said connecting portion of said elongated flexible element to said elongated spacer member in said first angular position thereof in a manner such that said object encircling strands remain spaced from each other, said connecting portion of said elongated flexible element being detachable from said elongated spacer member upon turning of the latter to its second angular position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A DEVICE FOR BINDING AND FOR FACILITATING TRANSPORTATION OF OBJECTS, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SPACER MEMBER HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS AND BEING TURNABLE AS A UNIT ABOUT SAID AXIS BETWEEN A FIRST AND A SPACED SECOND ANGULAR POSITION, SAID ELONGATED SPACER MEMBER BEING FORMED WITH A PLURALITY OF SPACED RECESS MEANS; AN ELONGATED FLEXIBLE ELEMENT HAVING A PAIR OF SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL, OBJECT ENCIRCLING STRANDS AND A CONNECTING MEMBER EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID STRANDS, EACH OF SAID STRANDS HAVING A FREE END PORTION; AND SECURING MEANS PROVIDED ON THE END PORTIONS OF SAID STRANDS FOR SECURING THE SAME TO SAID SPACER MEMBER SO THAT THE END PORTIONS OF THE STRANDS ARE SPACED FROM EACH OTHER, SAID CONNECTING MEMBER BEING RECEIVABLE IN SAID RECESS MEANS TO MAINTAIN SAID STRANDS IN SPACED-APART OBJECT-ENCIRCLING POSITION WHEN SAID ELONGATED SPACER MEMBER IS IN SAID FIRST ANGULAR POSITION BUT BEING DETACHABLE THEREFROM WHEN SAID ELONGATED SPACER MEMBER IS TURNED TO SAID SECOND ANGULAR POSITION. 